HUDSON RIVER NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT PLAN PREPARED BY THE HUDSON RIVER TRUSTEE COUNCIL STATE OF NEW YORK STATE OF NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE SEPTEMBER 2002 HUDSON RIVER NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT PLAN PREPARED BY THE HUDSON RIVER TRUSTEES SEPTEMBER 2002 his Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan was prepared by the Hudson River Natural TResource Trustee Council, which consists of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service. The Trustees are working cooperatively to conduct a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) for the Hudson River. This Assessment Plan is one step in the NRDA and documents exposure of natural resources to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and identifies the anticipated procedures for evaluating the injuries caused by this exposure. CONTACTS FOR PUBLIC INQUIRIES: Steven Jay Sanford Chief, Bureau of Habitat Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 625 Broadway Albany, NY 12233 518-402-8996 [email protected] Tom Brosnan Damage Assessment Center National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 1305 East-West Highway SSMC4, Room 10219 Silver Spring, MD 20910 301-713-3038 x186 [email protected] Fred Caslick U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 3817 Luker Road Cortland, NY 13045 607-753-9334 x156 [email protected] Credits: Cover Photo: Courtesy of NYSDEC Title Page Photo: Courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce Line Art by Robert J. Savannah HUDSON RIVER N A TURAL TABLE OF CONTENTS R ESOURCE LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS . iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. 1 D CHAPTER 1 THE NATURAL, CULTURAL, AND ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HUDSON RIVER . 7 AMAGE Ecological Communities of the Hudson River. 9 Hudson Falls to Troy . 10 Troy to Newburgh . 11 A Newburgh to Manhattan . 12 SSESSMENT Historical Significance of the Hudson River . 15 Recreation and the Modern Economy. 17 Further Economic Significance of the Hudson River. 18 CHAPTER 2 PCB CONTAMINATION IN THE HUDSON RIVER . 19 P LAN History and Effects of PCBs in the Hudson River . 19 Cleaning Up PCBs in the Hudson River . 21 CHAPTER 3 THE ROLE OF THE TRUSTEES . 27 Preliminary Determination of the Recovery Period . 30 Coordination with Other Government Agencies . 31 Importance of Public Participation . 32 Invitation for Cooperative Assessment. 33 CHAPTER 4 THE HUDSON RIVER NRDA: ASSESSMENT AND RESTORATION. 35 Pathway Determination. 36 PCB Sources to Sediment and Water . 37 Food Web Pathway Evaluation. 37 Floodplain Evaluation . 38 Injury Determination and Quantification . 38 Biological Resources. 39 Surface Water. 50 Groundwater . 52 Geologic Resources . 53 Air . 53 Damage Determination and Restoration . 54 Recreational Fishing Lost Use Study. 54 Habitat Equivalency Analysis . 55 Assessment of Lost Navigational Services . 55 Assessment of Impacts to National Park Sites and Affiliated Areas . 56 TABLE OF CONTENTS Subject to Public Review i REFERENCES . 57 LAN P GLOSSARY . 63 APPENDIX A: QUALITY ASSURANCE MANAGEMENT . 67 HUDSON RIVER APPENDIX B: FACT SHEETS. 71 SSESSMENT A Assessing Fish Health . 73 Preliminary Investigations of Bird Injuries. 75 Preliminary Investigation of Snapping Turtles . 77 AMAGE Hudson River Natural Resource Damage Assessment: Summary of the NRDA Plan. 79 D ESOURCE R EXHIBITS TURAL A Exhibit 1-1 Hudson River Below Corinth, New York . 8 N Exhibit 1-2 Endangered, Threatened, Special Concern or Rare Species Identified in or Near the Hudson River by the State of New York or as Potentially Occurring in or Near the Hudson River by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service . 13–14 Exhibit 1-3 Selected Events in the Recorded History of the Hudson River. 16 Exhibit 2-1 Basic Chemical Structure of PCBs. 20 Exhibit 2-2 PCB Concentrations in Selected Hudson River Natural Resources, Regulatory Criteria and Guidelines, and Threshold/Effects Identified in the Literature. 22–24 Exhibit 2-3 Selected Chronology of Events Related to the Discharge, Discovery, and Removal of PCBs in the Hudson River . 25 Exhibit 4-1 Pathway Determination. 37 Exhibit 4-2 Injury Determination and Quantification . 40–41 Exhibit 4-3 Damage Determination and Restoration . 55 Exhibit A-1 Project Quality Assurance Organization . 68 ii Subject to Public Review TABLE OF CONTENTS HUDSON RIVER N A TURAL ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS R ESOURCE ATSDR Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry CERCLA Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act CFR Code of Federal Regulations D CWA Clean Water Act AMAGE DOI United States Department of the Interior EPA United States Environmental Protection Agency A FDA United States Food and Drug Administration SSESSMENT GE The General Electric Company LC 50 Lethal Concentration 50 NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NPL National Priorities List P LAN NPS National Park Service NRDA Natural Resource Damage Assessment NYSDEC New York State Department of Environmental Conservation NYSDOH New York State Department of Health NYSDOS New York State Department of State NYSDOT New York State Department of Transportation PCB Polychlorinated biphenyl PED Preliminary Estimate of Damages ppb parts per billion ppm parts per million ppt parts per thousand PRG Preliminary Remediation Goals PSD Preassessment Screen Determination ROD Record of Decision SDWA Safe Drinking Water Act SPDES State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System SWDA Solid Waste Disposal Act TEQ Toxic Equivalent TSCA Toxic Substances Control Act USFWS United States Fish and Wildlife Service USGS United States Geological Survey ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS Subject to Public Review iii HUDSON RIVER N A TURAL EXECUTIVE SUMMARY R ESOURCE D AMAGE A SSESSMENT Spanning the Hudson, Bear Mountain Bridge connects P Peekskill and LAN Orange County and is the crossing point for the Appalachian Photo courtesy of NYSDEC Trail. he Hudson River flows from its source in and has supported commercial and recreational Tthe Adirondack Mountains to its confluence fishing, as well as swimming and boating. Also, with New York Harbor at the Battery in the river has been used in the direct generation of Manhattan, a distance of about 315 miles. The electricity, and as a source of cooling water for Hudson River has provided important natural other forms of power generation. Many river com- resources and services to the residents of the munities have depended on the Hudson River as a Hudson River Valley since the earliest days of source of potable water. Over time, ever-increas- human settlement. The earliest European explo- ing urbanization and industrialization began to ration was by Henry Hudson in the early seven- degrade the river and its natural resources. teenth century. The Hudson River provided a In the early 1970s, a group of toxic com- travel corridor to facilitate westward exploration pounds known as polychlorinated biphenyls, or of New York by European settlers and was a focal PCBs, were discovered in the water, fish, and sed- point during the Revolutionary and French and iment of the Hudson River below General Indian Wars. President Franklin Delano Electric Company’s (GE’s) plants at Hudson Falls Roosevelt made his home along the Hudson and Fort Edward. As a result of PCB contamina- River near Hyde Park, New York. Because of its tion, fishing was banned in the Upper Hudson rich resources and heritage, the Hudson River has River from Hudson Falls to Troy between 1976 been formally recognized as an American and 1995, and fishing in that river reach is cur- Heritage River and serves as the site of a National rently restricted to catch and release only (1). In Estuarine Research Reserve. addition, the Hudson River below the Federal The river has been used as a transportation Dam at Troy was closed to commercial fishing for corridor for commercial and recreational traffic, almost all species of fish, and fish in that part of EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Subject to Public Review 1 the river have been the subject of “no consump- the condition that would have existed if the haz- LAN tion” or restrictive consumption advisories due to ardous substances were not released. In addition, P PCB contamination. The discovery of PCBs in the Trustees may obtain compensation for natural the Hudson River and other locations also resource injuries and the loss of the services they prompted many scientists to study the effects of provide between the onset of the injury and full HUDSON RIVER these compounds on wildlife. Years later, this restoration. research indicates that PCBs can cause serious SSESSMENT The U.S. Congress enacted the Superfund injuries to wildlife and other natural resources. A law to assign responsibility for the cost of cleaning up hazardous substances that threaten human health and the environment, and for restoring or THE TRUSTEE ROLE replacing any public natural resources that are AMAGE The responsibility for restoring natural resources harmed by hazardous substance releases. It is the D that have been injured by hazardous substances U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) belongs to Federal, State, and Tribal Trustees for responsibility to select a remedy that is intended fish, wildlife, other living resources, water, lands, to reduce or eliminate current and future threats and protected areas. Trusteeship is derived from to human health or the environment. It is the ESOURCE Federal and Tribal treaties, Federal and State Tr ustees’ responsibility to restore or replace the R statutes, and other laws. For the.